Archives - 17 November 2017, Friday

The American Wild Horse Campaign on Thursday harshly criticized Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke 's appointment of Brian Steed, the former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), as the acting director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as dangerous and out of step with the wis...

Last month the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFSW) began issuing hunting permits for the import of lion trophies hunted in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Although the USFSW announced Wednesday it was lifting a ban on the import of elephant trophies, the new guidelines for importing sport-hun...

About 210,000 gallons (5,000 barrels) of oil leaked Thursday from TransCanada's Keystone oil pipeline near Amherst, South Dakota, drawing fierce outcry from pipeline opponents. The leak, the largest spill to date in South Dakota, comes just days before Nebraska regulators decide on wh...

Pope Francis: These 4 'Perverse Attitudes' Could Push Earth to Its Brink Pope Francis issued a strong message to negotiators at the COP23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany on Thursday, warning them not to fall into "four perverse attitudes" regarding the future of the planet—"denial , in...

Environmental advocates on Thursday applauded the latest organization to shift away from continued support of the fossil fuel industry—Norway's national bank. In a move 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben called "astonishing," Norges Bank, which oversees the world's largest sovereign wea...

Now that's green energy . Dutch product designer Ermi van Oers and her team are working on the first atmospheric lamp powered by living plants. The Living Light does not require an electric socket. It can harvest its own energy through the photosynthetic process of the encased plant, ...

There has been a significant development in the constitutional climate change lawsuit so far successfully prosecuted by 21 youth plaintiffs: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided to hear oral argument over whether the Trump administration can evade trial currently set for Feb...

During the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in Florida last year, Ryan Boylan rescued a squirrel that was trapped under a car. He named her Brutis and kept her inside his home at Island Walk Condominiums in Clearwater Beach. “Ever since then, I mean, oh my God, I can’t imagine not being...

Semi have a driving range of 500 miles, but it can also reach 60 mph in five seconds without a trailer, which is a fraction of the time that it takes for a comparable diesel truck . With an 80,000 pound load, Tesla estimates that the truck will reach 60 mph in 20 seconds, which normal...

becomes increasingly popular, people are finding new, unexpected ways of incorporating agriculture into cities. From rooftops and community gardens, urban farming has descended to waterways and lakes – as in this solar-powered floating farm that doubles as a restaurant. Lotus is desig...

Greenpeace and the Nature and Youth environmental group opened a lawsuit this week over Norway's failure to abide by its constitutional obligation to safeguard the environment for future generations. The lawsuit, which focuses on local environmental damage and the contribution that oi...

Related:

Carolina Catarino is a young Brazilian scientist who just won a Lush Prize for improving lab-grown skin models. When Carolina Catarino was a teenager, she wanted to be a fashion designer. But her parents, living in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, told her she had to complete ...

Today Coke is due to launch its famous Christmas advert on UK screens. First aired in 1995, it depicts the iconic twinkling red trucks carving through a snowy landscape to an intensely catchy soundtrack. It’s the shorthand for the festive season for a generation. I’m not Coke’s bigges...

A view of the Peace River Valley. A 100-kilometre stretch of this valley would be flooded if the Site C dam is built. (Photo: DeSmogCanada via Flickr ) Subscribe to Science Matters Email As many countries move away from big hydro projects, B.C.’s government must decide whether to cont...

John Voelcker Nov 17, 2017 Follow John Add to circle Illustration from December 1966 Popular Science article on electric cars Enlarge Photo Looking at yesterday's visions of tomorrow is always entertaining, from flying cars to cities of the future. In the case of the electric car, the...

The Living Light produces up to 0.1mW of energy, which isn’t enough to light an entire room, but it’s plenty to act as your evening reading lamp. Van Oers and team aren’t done yet – they’re working on increasing the energy output, and they imagine that entire towns could be powered by...

BayWa r.e. renewables subsidiary successfully commissioned its first project in Southern Africa, a combined solar PV plant and battery system in the Zambian province of Chisamba in October. Stationed at the Agricultural Knowledge and Training Center (AKTC) based at GART Chaloshi farm ...

Bulk opened at the end of August and has been doing a brisk business ever since. London's first-ever zero waste store is located on Kingsland Road in Hackney. The storefront is simple and subtle, with one small sign indicating its name, Bulk , and an attractive window display of fresh...

Cattle are absolutely a huge problem in Tanzania. All coming from Somalia. People are very afraid of the Somalis that come with them because they’re quite war-like. And so they’re allowed to go into Tanzanian forests, and Kenyan forests. And of course, climate change isn’t helping. A ...

For other types of areas, choose “Other Data Layers” and follow instructions to click on one of the tabs above the map (e.g. Land Use, Conservation) to select the data set containing the area of interest for which you want to receive alerts. You can subscribe to a shape within any dat...

A Hard Brexit increases quota and access based on the UK’s new Exclusive Economic Zone, but results in the EU continuing its fishing pressure on stocks and applying the highest tariff rates. The UK can claim territorial waters without historical access rights. The EU would respond wit...

On November 13, utilities in Massachusetts announced that they would begin to accept bids pursuant to the new “Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target" or "SMART” program, which seeks to ultimately add up to 1,600 MW of solar capacity to the Mass. grid. The SMART program was voted into l...

The whole thing is on wheels, so it can be moved easily, more so than its larger predecessor, The Wedge. It comes in sizes from 160 to 240 square feet and is cheaper too, but not by much with a base price of USD $76,000. The clear advantage here though is that like The Wedge, the Road...

“The North American utilities market is exposed to several significant, global variables in play — those not only impact how we consume and source energy in the near-term, they ultimately factor into our ability to achieve success during this time of transition,” said Bart Thielbar, V...

If this thing does what Elon says it does, oil companies should be very nervous. 2017 has been strange in so many ways, it didn't even occur to me as odd that people around the world were willing to wait up late into the night to watch the unveiling of a semi truck. But the Tesla Semi...

That's Finnish for dish-drying cabinet. When I was a kid visiting my cousins for a week each summer, we children were in charge of washing the dishes after mealtimes. There was always a mountain of pots and plates, so cleanup was a major chore. What made it far easier, however, was my...

China, with the world’s largest power system, faces an uphill struggle in trying to contain double-digit rates of renewable curtailment. Even though power shedding dropped 1.4 percent in the third quarter, compared to the first half of this year, “whether the curtailment rate will go ...